Raju Pandit Chettri meets Minister Kaag: finance for women-led local climate action is critical!
During the 24th Conference of the Parties (COP24) of the UNFCCC taking place in Katowice, Both ENDS partner Raju Pandit Chettri – director of Prakriti Resources Centre in Nepal - was one of the selected Southern leaders to meet with the Dutch Minister of Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade, Sigrid Kaag. We asked Raju about his expectations, messages, Kaag's responses and his experiences of the meeting.
Climate finance must reach the local level
Raju: "I expected to be able to participate in a frank exchange of information, including hearing the points of view of the Netherlands and how it would take positons during COP24, but also how it would be supporting climate actions on the ground.
The meeting was short and productive. Representatives from the Global South shared their critical issues and challenges they face in their countries. Myself, I was able to share the experiences of PRC's work (including the work with Both ENDS in GAGGA), taking into account the specific challenges in Nepal as a mountainous country. I stressed that it is of crucial importance to work with local civil society groups and communities – especially women's groups - to make sure climate finance reaches the local level."
Minister Kaag: "Looking for adaptation champions"
"As a response to my issues, the Minister argued that capacity building was very important, including for CSOs. She was concerned about the shrinking space for civil society and said this should be protected. The Minister stated that leadership should come from all, including civil society. Furthermore, Kaag spoke about the New Dutch Climate Fund that would prioritize 65% of the funds for adaptation and highlighted the fact that incentivizing adaptation action was important.
Kaag told Raju and the other Southern leaders that gender equality and women empowerment are key priorities to her. Besides that, the Minister explained that livelihoods and adaptation are also critically important, and that she is looking for champions in adaptation.
Gender is a critical aspect of climate action
"As gender is critical but somehow controversial in the Green Climate Fund (GCF), I asked the Minister if the Netherlands would do anything in particular to make sure the GCF Gender Policy would get approved. My impression is that the Minister seems to be serious about climate action, in particular adaptation actions in developing countries related to women empowerment and livelihoods and seems to support CSOs and ensure their space is protected."
Lastly, Raju was able to advocate for a strong Paris rulebook and asked the Netherlands to do all in its powers to ensure the successful implementation of the Paris Agreement. He also addressed that the Dutch focus on mobilizing private sector finance has its limitations and that local private sector should not be forgotten.
About Raju Pandit Chettri
Raju works together with Both ENDS in a GAGGA-supported project on grassroots- and gender-responsive climate finance. Furthermore, he is engaging in the international civil society group working on the Green Climate Fund and one of the co-writers of our joint publication 'Local Actors Ready to Act'. He has been an advisor to the Nepali and Least Developed Countries (LDC)-constituencies in several COPs and other platforms, and contributed to a webinar by WEDO and Both ENDS on enhanced direct access to climate finance.
Themes
Read more about this subject
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Dossier /Green Climate Fund: calling for local access to climate finance
Local organisations and groups must be given access to climate finance from the Green Climate Fund. They know exactly what is happening in their local context and what is required for climate adaptation.
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Dossier /Global Alliance for Green and Gender Action (GAGGA)
GAGGA rallies the collective power of the women's rights and environmental justice movements to realize a world where women can and do access their rights to water, food security, and a clean, healthy and safe environment.
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External link / 1 August 2018Briefing paper: Gender and Climate Change
This paper by Prakriti Resources Center (Nepal) sheds light on the gender and climate change nexus, gender mainstreaming as a tool to address gender inequality, gender and climate change policy landscape both at international and national level, gaps and way forward.
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Video / 28 August 2018Webinar series: women’s rights and climate finance, #5
The fifth session of our five part series on women's rights and climate finance, Experiences and Perspectives of Women Engaging in Climate Finance, shared the insights of three activists who have been serving as GCF Monitors as part of the "Women Demand 'Gender-Just' Climate Finance" initiative. They spoke about their processes of learning about climate finance and connecting with others to monitor climate finance in their communities and regions, discussed the value they have found in this work, and answered questions from webinar participants.
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Video / 1 February 2018Webinar series: women’s rights and climate finance, #2
The second session of our five part series on women's rights and climate finance, Gender Mainstreaming in Climate Finance Mechanisms, provided an overview of how gender equality has been mainstreamed into global climate finance mechanisms, including a deep dive on gender considerations under the Green Climate Fund by Liane Schalatek of the Heinrich Boell Foundation - North America.
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Video / 14 June 2018Webinar series: women’s rights and climate finance, #4
The fourth webinar of a five part series on women's rights and climate finance: Strategies for Organizing to Influence, Monitor, and Track Climate Finance (from Global to Local), focused on strategies to engage with various actors to both facilitate and advocate for the meaningful inclusion of the perspectives and experiences of women's groups, affected communities, and other civil society stakeholders in the design and implementation of projects and programs.
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Video / 14 December 2017Webinar series: women’s rights and climate finance, #1
This Introduction to Climate Finance is the first of a five part series on women's rights and climate finance, aiming to build knowledge and power to ensure finance flows are benefiting local women's groups, responding to community needs and respecting human rights. This session will outline the climate finance landscape, as well as the key challenges and opportunities we hope to explore in this webinar series.
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Video / 7 March 2018Webinar series: women’s rights and climate finance, #3
The third session of our five part series on women's rights and climate finance, Getting the Money to the People: GCF Accreditation and Enhanced Direct Action, focused on accessing the Green Climate Fund through working with stakeholders at the country level (engaging with the National Designated Authority), utilizing Enhanced Direct Access, and seeking accreditation.
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External link / 29 May 2019Local access to climate finance (Annual Report 2018)
The vast majority of climate finance is channelled to (and through) big institutions and large-scale projects, often without taking into account the wishes and interests of local communities. Both ENDS is working with diverse partners worldwide to address this problem, with a special focus on the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
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Event / 10 May 2016, 13:30 - 15:15Adaptation Futures, session 'Making Climate Finance Accessible to Women'
Both ENDS, MamaCash and FCAM are proud to contribute to the 'Adaptation Futures 2016- conference'.
Adaptation Futures is the biennial conference of the Global Programme of Research on Climate Change Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation (PROVIA). In 2016 the European Commission and the Government of the Netherlands co-host the fourth edition. Adaptation Futures 2016 is where scholars, practitioners, policymakers and business people from all around the world go to connect, learn and inspire. It highlights adaptation practices and solutions for people, governments and businesses. The programme addresses all sectors and all parts of the world.
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Event / 19 June 2018, 09:15 - 11:00Adaptation Futures - Session on Small grants, big impacts
The Green Climate Fund aims to support transformational pathways to climate-resilient development, intends to reach those most vulnerable, and commits to a gender-sensitive approach. This session presents an important way of putting these commitments into practice: by engaging small grants funds. These funds can provide the much needed channel between large international institutions and local communities adapting to climate change, and assure financing reaches women and men to contribute to transformative climate action. But how to make this shift in how financing is delivered? The audience will be actively engaged in the discussion to come to concrete suggestions to strengthen local access and gender responsiveness of climate finance.
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News / 8 March 2017International Women's day is still urgently needed
Today is International Women's Day. A day originating from women's strikes against poor working conditions in the textile industry, some 100 years ago. Since then, a lot has improved for women but, unfortunately, men and women obviously still don’t have equal rights. In 1949, Simone de Beauvoir already warned that ‘women’s rights will never be vested. You have to stay vigilant your whole life’. Recent developments such as the tightening of abortion laws in some countries confirm this view and show that even in the ‘free West’ women’s rights are still far from self-evident.
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Event / 3 November 2021, 13:15 - 14:30UNFCCC COP 26 side event 'Gender-just climate finance: from barriers to actionable solutions'
With gender-responsiveness a work in progress, current climate funds are hardly accessible for women-led community based organizations. While these groups lack access to finance and decision-making, they already lead bold holistic gender-just climate solutions and initiatives worth funding support.
Follow this event live on YouTube!
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Event / 6 March 2018, 15:00 - 16:30Women's Rights & Climate Finance Webinar: getting the money to the people
Join us for the third session of this five-part series on women's rights and climate finance, aimed at building knowledge and power to ensure finance flows benefit local women's groups, respond to community needs and respect human rights.
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Publication / 4 November 2016
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Publication / 1 December 2021
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Event / 3 December 2015COP21: Climate Change Conference Paris
During the COP21 in Paris, Both ENDS will be cooperating and presenting with partners on a number of events. If you plan on going, please consider visiting one or more of these sessions:
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Publication / 4 November 2022
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Publication / 2 November 2021
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Dossier /Small Grants Big Impacts
Small grants funds offer an effective, alternative way to channel big money from large donors and funds to local groups and organisations that are striving for a sustainable and just society everywhere around the world.
